Patriarchal Exarchate for Orthodox Parishes of Russian Tradition in Western Europe

The Patriarchal Exarchate for Orthodox Parishes of Russian Tradition in Western Europe is an exarchate of the Ecumenical Patriatchate of Russian Orthodox tradition, based in Paris, and having parishes throughout Europe, mainly centered in France. The Exarchate is sometimes known as rue Daru from the street in Paris where its cathedral is located. It has been led by Archbishop Job (Getcha) of Telmessos since his consecration in 2013.

Patriarchal Exarchate for Orthodox Parishes of Russian Tradition in Western Europe

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History

After the onset of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, Russian Orthodox Christians based outside Russia and those who fled there from the communist regime found themselves in a difficult situation. A solution intended as temporary was the formation of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR), in which during the early 1920s the vast majority of Russian Orthodox abroad participated, united by their opposition to the Soviet government. The Russian bishop of Paris at the time was Metropolitan Evlogy (Georgievsky), who had been appointed by St. Tikhon of Moscow in 1921 as the representative of the Patriarchate of Moscow in Western Europe and sat in the synod with the remainder of the ROCOR bishops.

In 1927 Evlogy broke with the ROCOR (along with Metr. Platon (Rozhdestvensky) of New York, leader of the Russian Metropolia in America) and was subsequently condemned by them, splitting the Russian émigré community in Western Europe. In 1928, Metr. Sergius (Stragorodsky), then locum tenens of the Patriarchate of Moscow, demanded declarations of loyalty to the Soviet regime, a proposition which Evlogy initially supported by subsequently repudiated. In 1930, after taking part in a prayer service in London in supplication for Christians suffering under the Soviets, Evlogy was removed from office by Sergius and replaced.

Most of Evlogy's parishes remained loyal to him, however, as they were generally against the Soviet government. Evlogy then petitioned Ecumenical Patriarch Photius II to be received under his canonical care and was received in 1931, becoming an exarchate of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. In 1965, the jurisdiction was downgraded to a vicariate, but returned to the rank of exarchate in 1999.

In 2006, against the protests of Moscow, the Exarchate received Bp. Basil (Osborne) (formerly the temporary administrator of the Moscow Patriarchate's Diocese of Sourozh), along with a number of parishes and clergy in the United Kingdom. Bp. Basil was elected as an auxiliary of the Exarchate's archbishop and given care of the Episcopal Vicariate in Great Britain and Ireland, formed of those parishes and clergy that came with him.

Since its reception by the Ecumenical Patriarch in 1931, the Exarchate has grown to roughly 100 parishes (more than 40 of which are in France), served by about 66 priests who care for the needs of an increasingly multi-cultural flock, numbering roughly 100,000 strong. The Exarchate also has one monastery for women, the Orthodox Monastery of the Veil of Our Lady (Bussy-en-Othe, France), which publishes translations of liturgical materials.

Communities of the Exarchate, the largest Orthodox group in France where it is centered, range throughout Western Europe, including Great Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Italy and Spain. Member Clergy and various Laymen of the Exarchate in Scandinavia have been active in developing worship in the local languages. There is also a smaller Lap (Sami) community associated with the Exarchate. The indigenous peoples of Sámpi (Lapland) were evangelized by Tryphon of Pechenga in the 1500's.